(CNN) – Disparagement from members of his own party has Sen. Rand Paul recalling the golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated.

Responding to Sen. John McCain's condemnation of his thirteen hour filibuster, Paul said Friday that while "I treat Sen. McCain with respect, I don't know if I always get the same in return."
Paul was speaking on The Mike Huckabee radio show. Earlier in the day, McCain told The Huffington Post that Paul, along with Sen. Ted Cruz - who assisted in Wednesday's filibuster - was a "wacko bird" that could taint American's impressions of the GOP.

"I think it can be harmful if there is a belief among the American people that those people are reflective of the views of the majority of Republicans. They're not," he told the website.

That was after McCain took to the floor of the Senate to publically chastise Paul for the marathon speaking session, which held up the confirmation of John Brennan to become CIA director. Paul and his allies were seeking answers on the Obama's administration's use of unmanned drones.

"All I can say is that I don't think that what happened yesterday is helpful to the American people," the Arizona Republican said on the Senate floor. McCain, along with fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, were skeptical of Paul's claim that the Obama administration was dodging the question of whether or not Americans could be killed by drones within the United States.

The reprimands from McCain drew a perplexed reaction from Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and 2012 GOP presidential candidate.

"I don't know what's happened to John McCain but I find it very sad," Gingrich said on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."

"I'm really disappointed in John McCain, and I'm very saddened by it," Gingrich continued. "McCain in his younger years was a great maverick. He took on his party all the time."

Paul shrugged the rebukes off Friday, saying his critics were "on the wrong side of history."

While he praised McCain for his heroism during the Vietnam War, Paul was adamant that it didn't make his colleague correct.

"He deserves respect for spending years and years in prison in the Vietnam War. But I would say that it doesn't mean that his ideas always trump everybody else's ideas," he said.

soundoff(55 Responses)

None of them deserve respect because they don't respect the American people!!!!!

March 9, 2013 09:18 am at 9:18 am |

jonathan doe

Isnt it odd that the party that is for smaller government and less regulation always goes for restrictive laws which lead to larger government? Who is this guy Rand Paul? Is he related to Ru Paul? All he is doing is making a big name for himself so that he will be selected as the GOP's pick for 2016. Does he really care about you and me? No. The guys that could actually do good for this country are too smart to run (that goes for both parties) When did we last have a president and a congress that actually gave a damn about this country?

March 9, 2013 09:48 am at 9:48 am |

Tom1940

"Everything has a season!" I believe the "old guard, (J. McCain, Lindsey Graham, etc), have reached the end of "that season". Trying to speak for "all" Republicans, when you have lost a Presidential Campaign, is the prime example of
and "oxymoron", on the part of John McCain. Evolution is the natural state of the world, and politics is governed by the
same laws. The old make way for the new and fade, hopefully, into the "quiet" emeritus status they richly deserve. Dr./Sen. Paul, may not be the leader of the Republican Party, but he is making his voice heard. The leadership and the direction of the Republican Party is evolving and until they recapture the Senate and Presidency and expand their numbers in the House, we, the voters, will be left with nothing but speculation, mostly coming from the Dems/Libs.

March 9, 2013 09:50 am at 9:50 am |

Mark

I do not dislike Paul – but its a snowballs chance in hell of ever voting for him either. Likewise, I do appreciate the importance of the question he posed. And it would not have come to a filibuster had the AG just answered it clearly the first time – it was his first ambiguous answer that prompted such an outrageous concern.

However, I still took it to be little more than grandstanding.

March 9, 2013 09:52 am at 9:52 am |

carrotroot

The US is NOT going to attack its own citizens with drones on US Soil. That is just never going to happen. To thing such a thing would ever happen is utter nonsense.